NPS Form 10-900 VLR Listed: 6/15/2017 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior NRHP Listed: 9/18/2017 National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. 1. Name of Property Historic name: Mathews Downtown Historic District Other names/site number: DHR No. 057-5415 Name of related multiple property listing: NA (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. Location Street & number: 0.7 mile of Main Street; intersecting with 0.6 mile of Buckley Hall Road; extending west 0.5 mile along Church Street City or town: Mathews Court House State: VA County: Mathews _ Not For Publication: X Vicinity: N/A ____________________________________________________________________________ 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this X nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property _X__ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: ___national ___statewide _X__ local Applicable National Register Criteria: _X__A ___B _X_C _X_D Signature of certifying official/Title: Date ______________________________________________ State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official: Date Title : State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Mathews Downtown Historic District Mathews County, VA Name of Property County and State ______________________________________________________________________________ 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) _____________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action ____________________________________________________________________________ 5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) Private: X Public – Local X Public – State Public – Federal Category of Property (Check only one box.) Building(s) District X Site Structure Object Sections 1-6 page 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Mathews Downtown Historic District Mathews County, VA Name of Property County and State Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count) Contributing Noncontributing ____178_______ _____93_______ buildings ______8_______ ______0_______ sites ______4_______ _____14_______ structures ______5_______ ______7_______ objects ____195_______ _____114_______ Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register ____13_____ ____________________________________________________________________________ 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) DOMESTIC: Single Dwelling; Hotel COMMERCE/TRADE: Financial Institution; Specialty Store; Department Store GOVERNMENT: Correctional Facility; Courthouse; Government Office EDUCATION: Library RELIGION: Religious Facility RECREATION AND CULTURE: Theater LANDSCAPE: Plaza Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) DOMESTIC: Single Dwelling; Hotel COMMERCE/TRADE: Financial Institution; Specialty Store GOVERNMENT: Courthouse; Government Office EDUCATION: Library RELIGION: Religious Facility LANDSCAPE: Plaza; Parking Lot Sections 1-6 page 3 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Mathews Downtown Historic District Mathews County, VA Name of Property County and State _____________________________________________________________________________ 7. Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions.) EARLY REPUBLIC: Federal LATE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY REVIVALS: Colonial Revival LATE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN MOVEMENTS: Commercial Style; Craftsman ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Materials: (enter categories from instructions.) Principal exterior materials of the property: BRICK; CONCRETE; WOOD/weatherboard, shingle; STUCCO; SYNTHETICS/vinyl; METAL; STONE/sandstone Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity.) ______________________________________________________________________________ Summary Paragraph Mathews County occupies the easternmost portion of Virginia's Middle Peninsula. When the Virginia General Assembly created the county in 1791, a small centrally-located village then known as Westville became the county seat. The certainty of business that accompanied court days helped the town develop, drawing in professionals, entrepreneurs, and investors. Much of the development took place in the area surrounding the courthouse green before spreading north and south along what is today Main Street (Route 14). This road serves as the spine of the Mathews Downtown Historic District. Distinct concentrations of small homes and businesses line Main Street, stretching north to Buckley Hall Road and west along Church Street. The landscape is distinguished by small lots and building density, a generally north/south-east/west town plan, and sidewalks, curbs, street lights, and straight roads that create a distinctive town atmosphere. The topography is flat, elevated slightly above the surrounding waterways, with most of the older buildings close to the courthouse and the intersection of Main and Church streets while a few, larger, predominantly 19th-century buildings exist slightly back from the primary roads, along the edges of the town. Mathews Downtown Historic District includes numerous architectural and archaeological resources which retain their historic integrity through confirmed evidence for stratified cultural archaeological deposits and in the visible historic fabric and character of the built landscape. These reveal the changing organization of the cultural landscape as it evolved from an Early Woodland encampment, to a colonial-era town, to a 19th- century administrative center, and to a 20th-century community. The district contains 195 contributing resources such as dwellings, domestic outbuildings, commercial buildings, Section 7 page 4 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Mathews Downtown Historic District Mathews County, VA Name of Property County and State government offices, restaurants, automobile-related enterprises, and cemeteries that are generally illustrative of the town’s historical development since the last decade of the 18th century through the late 1960s. Non-contributing resources typically either postdate the district’s period of significance or lack integrity to represent an association with the district’s period and areas of significance. Archaeological sites within the historic district are associated with two periods of significance, the first being the Early to Middle Woodland period and the second with colonial era through late 19th century Euro-American occupation. Of the 13 resources previously listed within the historic district, 9 are associated with the Mathews County Courthouse Square (NRHP 1977; 057-0022), 2 are associated with the Sibley and James Store Historic District (NRHP 2010, 057-5049; this district includes the Old Thomas James Store [057-5027], which was individually listed in the NRHP in 2008), and 2 are associated with the Lane Hotel (NRHP 2011). ______________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Description The Mathews Downtown Historic District, located near the geographic center of Mathews County at the head of Put-in Creek, a tributary of the East River, extends along three major roadways as they converge at this relatively high point on the eastern tip of the Middle Peninsula. From the courthouse green, near the center